Dan Carpenter: Scouts honor all kids, and that's heresy

Jul. 27, 2013

People unlike us, not possessed of our truth, not equal to our virtue, are out to get us, to corrupt our children, to seduce us to turn away from God and invite His retribution, soul, body and property.

Trust me. This is inside info.

As a member of one of these human institutions, I know the unending wrestling match between spirituality and superstition, between serving the Creator of all beings and keeping watch at the wall of dogma, hierarchy and taboo. The older I get, the farther away from that boyhood terror of hell, the more I just stay outside the ring and wonder how fans can take a fake sport so seriously.

When I hear church leaders denounce adoptions of unwanted children by gay couples as “brutality,” when I see the expansion of health care caricatured as a threat to “religious freedom,” and when I witness a prominent church and school kicking out the Boy Scouts and calling the move “Christ-centered,” I ask myself “What would Jesus really do?”

I’m leaning toward turning over the tables and scattering the gold coins, perhaps putting a sandal to some pietistic butts. But I’m no theologian. Perhaps, instead, he would applaud the adherence to divine principles that have not changed for millennia — except, of course, for the periodic Vatican council, schism, government alliance, reformation, textual revision or military conquest.

America’s got the one true faith, Mark Twain said — dozens of ’em. It stands to reason that any legitimacy they have rests, not on exclusiveness, but on inclusiveness. If reaching out means lobbying the government to prevent people of other faiths from marrying one another, perhaps evangelism needs to be revisited. If you love your enemies, as the bumper sticker says, don’t kill them. The problem is, modern warfare, so often given ecclesiastical blessing, kills mostly non-enemies, many of whom are children.

Children suffer while we recite Jesus’ admonition “Suffer the little children to come unto me.” He said nothing, as far as Scripture tells us, of the nationality, creed or sexual orientation of the kids.

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In that regard, the world’s children have much more profound worries than East 91st Street Christian Church and Heritage Christian School, which severed ties with the Boy Scouts because “Our vision as a church is to equip and mobilize people to transform our world for Jesus Christ” and “Our desire is to reflect the love of God and the truth of Jesus Christ,” respectively.

A sanctimonious cant goes, these rank right up there with my own church’s “defense of marriage” and “values education.” When fear rules to the point that 9-year-olds must be told a wholesome youth organization has been banned because it will not shun some of their peers over sex, a megachurch or a high-profile school can look mighty small.

To be sure, only a smattering of churches around here have booted their troops and packs thus far; a testament, no doubt, to the lengthy track record of “Don’t ask, don’t tell.” Same-sex marriage, gay clergy, abortion, contraception, the role of women, school vouchers and sexual predation by adults in ministry will engender far more sound and fury on the religious/political front.

Still, there’s no dismissing the potential damage to children, and to the credibility of religion, from this petty paranoia cloaked as holy writ. God willing, the kids will grow past it, and grow all the more spiritual from the trial. To the clergy and elders, I would only say, Be prepared.